STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- Two prominent Staten Island Democrats today denounced an anti-Grimm faction's move to hammer the Republican congressman on unemployment by cooking up a bogus job recruitment initiative at his New Dorp office.

But while Assemblymen Matthew Titone and Michael Cusick agreed with Rep. Michael Grimm that the hoax was "reprehensible," they said they understood the sentiment behind it.

On Tuesday, a phony flier was distributed on the North Shore advising unemployed people to "bring your resume" to Grimm's office on New Dorp Lane in search of a job.

A half-dozen people showed up, including Maurice Samuels of West Brighton, who dressed in a suit and had to borrow bus money to get there. Samuels told the Advance he got the flier from a woman who said she was with the Democratic Party.

Grimm (R-Staten Island/Brooklyn) called the stunt "reprehensible, disgusting and vile," and said it was perpetrated by "liberal, progressive Democrats" who later staged a rally across the street from his office.

No one has taken responsibility for the flier, but today Democratic Party chairman John Gulino issued a statement saying, "Neither I nor the Democratic Party of Richmond County had any hand in the execution or planning of the rally."

Added Gulino: "I, like many others, was upset that our neighbors, who are enduring a difficult time in their lives, wasted their day and time traveling to the congressman's office believing that they would find employment."

Said Titone (D-North Shore): "I understand the point they were trying to make, but the execution was reprehensible and I have to agree with the congressman on that. To call for a political rally to make a political point under the guise of a job fair is truly unfair."

Agreed Cusick (D-Mid-Island): "Anything that purposely dupes someone into going to seek a job when they are desperate for work is reprehensible."

TJ Helmstetter of the Working Families Party, which helped organize the rally attended by a loose coalition of about two dozen people, said today that the flier "was from a rouge individual not from any group doing the event."

Half of the people who attended the rally said they lived in Brooklyn or Manhattan.

But one Staten Islander who attended, Teresa Caliari Olya, a teacher from Bulls Head who belongs to the Restore the American Promise coalition, said she is tired of Grimm dismissing the views of those who disagree with him.

"I'm a Democrat and for the record I did not vote for Mike McMahon," said Ms. Caliari Olya of the former Democratic congressman whom Grimm defeated. "Grimm uses a broad brush to paint us all as left-wing radicals who will never vote for him no matter what. Our argument is that he represents us, too. We are his constituents. We live here. I am concerned about the whole social safety network put in place by FDR being undone. It is not like I am asking for something. I work. I pay into the system. With jobs, President Obama can't make jobs. He can put forth ideas that the legislators, like Grimm, have to pass in the form of legislation."

Two people connected with the rally told the Advance someone had gone "off message" by concocting the flier and distributing it.

Helmstetter said he "hate(s) seeing Grimm hide behind this kind of nonsense instead of addressing the actual issues," including "how he plans to get 19,000 Staten Islanders back to work."

In his statement, Gulino said the "episode should highlight the lingering problems facing our neighbors as we struggle through this recession. Congressman Grimm must return to Washington, D.C., fully committed to creating the jobs necessary to bring our community and our country out of this terrible economic time."

Grimm has blamed Senate Democrats for thwarting jobs creation. He is also in the process of contacting the people who brought their resumes to his office, his spokeswoman said.